closed Man Utd 2-1 Chelsea

[MrExcalibur100 7,124]

I don't understand the overhyping of the Barcelona performance. "Nearly flawless", maybe this is our new level now. 25% possession and a 1-1 draw at home is far from flawless. This is a multimillion pound squad with a decade plus more of investment. Even Girona just went away to Barcelona and saw more of the ball than we did at home. 

Anyway, i'm hopeful for the match tomorrow but I won't be surprised if United boss the game and win. Mourinho and Conte will be a battle of who can use the ball less. 

[Footballover 222]

Unbelievable it's 2018 and people still assess a footballing performance by possession stats...

[kmk108 1,186]

1 hour ago, MrExcalibur100 said:

I don't understand the overhyping of the Barcelona performance. "Nearly flawless", maybe this is our new level now. 25% possession and a 1-1 draw at home is far from flawless. This is a multimillion pound squad with a decade plus more of investment. Even Girona just went away to Barcelona and saw more of the ball than we did at home. 

Anyway, i'm hopeful for the match tomorrow but I won't be surprised if United boss the game and win. Mourinho and Conte will be a battle of who can use the ball less. 

Who cares if we only had around a quarter of the possession? Possession means nothing if you don't do anything with it. Despite the difference in possession, we had more shots, the same number on target. Had Willian not hit the post twice, we would have scored three goals. And their goal came from a bad mistake, not from great buildup play. Fact is, the team was set up to give possession to Barcelona but not allow shot after shot, and they succeeded at that.

Remember 2015/16? We typically had more possession than our opponents, and look how well that worked out.

[LeonDavis23 371]

Lets just pray we aren't too far behind Spurs after we lose the next 2 games.

[Unionjack 7,531]

5 hours ago, LeonDavis23 said:

Lets just pray we aren't too far behind Spurs after we lose the next 2 games.

Theres nothing like a confident 'supporter' eh!!

If we use same starters as Barca but with Eden/Giroud/Willi top 3 it will be enough.

 

[Fulham Broadway 17,365]

Theyre still one of the teams that need to get smashed. Ever since my school days in London with massive lunch time fights, when half the kids supported Utd (because of Best, Law, Charlton ) and the other half supported Chelsea, up until the 90s when they thought they had a God given right to win everything - I fucking hate them.

Come on Chelsea !!

[Johnnyeye 7,517]

Come on Chelsea, we can do this lads, lets go for the win. Goodluck and KTBFFH

[Unionjack 7,531]

1 hour ago, Fulham Broadway said:

Theyre still one of the teams that need to get smashed. Ever since my school days in London with massive lunch time fights, when half the kids supported Utd (because of Best, Law, Charlton ) and the other half supported Chelsea, up until the 90s when they thought they had a God given right to win everything - I fucking hate them.

Come on Chelsea !!

God I love that passion mate. Just wish the lads felt the same way we do.Had many a row with 'Cockney reds' bGot stabbed by a jock red from Corby at Filbert St when a couple of us used to go in with the away lot and shout Chelsea then hit the chaos button. Just one time it left me in stitches lol

[Beigl 1,387]

12 hours ago, Footballover said:

Unbelievable it's 2018 and people still assess a footballing performance by possession stats...

Not to mention that possession based football is rather wishful thinking with this squad. We simply don´t have enough good passers in the team to play like Man City for example. We should do what we do best and this is counter attacking. 

[Pizy 18,994]

Have that feeling this'll be a Mourinho special. Can see us being the better side, having lots of good chances to score without finishing, and then Rashford or Lingard will race through on one good counter attack near the end to win 1-0.

Also, my mood will immedietly turn sour if the XI comes out and I see Cahill starting. Watching him get tossed around by Lukaku or destroyed by the pace of Rashford/Martial/Lingard. Just please let it be Rüdiger.

[Magic Lamps 11,692]

17 minutes ago, Pizy said:

Have that feeling this'll be a Mourinho special. Can see us being the better side, having lots of good chances to score without finishing, and then Rashford or Lingard will race through on one good counter attack near the end to win 1-0.

Also, my mood will immedietly turn sour if the XI comes out and I see Cahill starting. Watching him get tossed around by Lukaku or destroyed by the pace of Rashford/Martial/Lingard. Just please let it be Rüdiger.

the best thing about Mourinho specials is that they heavily rely on the opponent's wastefulness like in midweek where sevilla squandered like 8 clear cut chances. All we have to do to stop a game becoming a Mourinho special is to take our chances. Not our strength, admittedly; but we might have a lucky day from time to time.

[Supermonkey92 1,428]

13 hours ago, Footballover said:

Unbelievable it's 2018 and people still assess a footballing performance by possession stats...

Remember when Bayern killed Barca 4-0 at home in what was called the death of tiki taka? 36% possession. 

[Milan 17,964]

Courtois, Rudiger, Azpilicueta, Christensen, Moses, Alonso, Drinkwater, Kante, Willian, Hazard, Morata.

Subs: Caballero, Fabregas, Pedro, Giroud, Zappacosta, Cahill, Emerson.

[Pizy 18,994]

Drinkwater isn't really a surprise. With Baka out "injured" and Barkley not quite fit yet there's no way Cesc can start against Barca, both Manchester clubs and then Barca again. His legs need to be kept as fresh as possible.

 

[Polo7 3,496]

Cahill well and truly dropped. Great news! Good lineup too.

[!Hazard! 3,394]

4 minutes ago, milan.cech said:

Courtois, Rudiger, Azpilicueta, Christensen, Moses, Alonso, Drinkwater, Kante, Willian, Hazard, Morata.

Subs: Caballero, Fabregas, Pedro, Giroud, Zappacosta, Cahill, Emerson.

Good team but I would have chosen Giroud instead for his physicality and link-up play since most likely we will be the one with the possession. Let's hope Morata finishes his chances today (there will be few I'm sure) and is able to link-up with Willian and Hazard. 

[Belgiannutt 3,201]

13 hours ago, Footballover said:

Unbelievable it's 2018 and people still assess a footballing performance by possession stats...

Excalibur's got a point though about the overhyping. Defensively we were great but we really weren't good going forward. Not suprising considering we sacrificed some of our attacking strenght to get stronger defensively.

The goal and the 2 shots against the post were all three long range shots. We didn't have any clear cut chances. People really need to snap out of this notion that the performance against Barcelona was great all around. 

1-1 isn't a good result for us. They have the away goal. We have to score to go through. If we want to go through we're gonna have to attack them. To do that we're gonna need the freaking ball and an actual striker.

[Unionjack 7,531]

Shame about Giroud as I think hes the more inform and is Morata fit? And can always bring Cescy on in 2nd half.

Hoping to see the wee baldy man in action. And seeing mou blow up at Pogba and Lukaku.

On a side note i see Barcas Semedo pulled a hamstring and was expected to start against us in 2nd leg but will be out at least 6 weeks.

[Fulham Broadway 17,365]

2 hours ago, Unionjack said:

God I love that passion mate. Just wish the lads felt the same way we do.Had many a row with 'Cockney reds' bGot stabbed by a jock red from Corby at Filbert St when a couple of us used to go in with the away lot and shout Chelsea then hit the chaos button. Just one time it left me in stitches lol

UJ you seem to have led a very full and interesting life ! What year was that at Filbert street mate ? I was there in 78 and that was one massive tear up from about 11 am till 7 pm. Absolute madness

[LAM09 7,069]

Fairly happy about the line up. Morata's best performance thus far was against Utd at home, so I'm hoping he put in a shift again today.